


The Costume Mix-Up

by KrysKrossZee



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety Attacks, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Minor Harry Potter/George Weasley, POV Alternating, POV Third Person, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:13:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26822710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrysKrossZee/pseuds/KrysKrossZee
Summary: Fred tried to coordinate his costume with Hermione's but he went about it in the wrong way and now it doesn't look as though they're going to make it to the party.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Fred Weasley
Comments: 14
Kudos: 48
Collections: 2020 Fremione Costume Party





	The Costume Mix-Up

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing for Fred/Hermione and I absolutely loved it. Thank you to Fremione Fanatics for the prompt of DC Universe!
> 
> And thank you to LivinInCorsets for beating!

"I don't get what the big deal is." Fred was pretty much at his wit's end. Somehow he'd managed to piss off Hermione, merely by wearing the wrong thing. Sure, it wasn't easy to piss her off - which was one of the things that he found endearing about her in the first place - but this time he wasn't even trying and they were meant to leave for the party in half an hour.

It didn't look like they were going to make it there on time though, something that he was slowly coming to terms with as he stood outside of their ensuite, his hand splayed on the frame as he tried to talk to his fiancée, through a door.

"Mione, will you just come and tell me what I've done so I can fix it?" He knew that he sounded desperate now; but while he enjoyed making her blood boil, he hated seeing her upset and the fact that she had locked herself in the bathroom meant that she was probably crying. She'd never been a fan of letting anyone see her while she was crying after all.

When there was no reply, Fred let himself drop onto the edge of their bed and rubbed his hands over his face, groaning as he realised that meant that his hands would probably now be covered in green and white paint. He'd done so well in getting the face for his costume perfect and yet somehow it was now all falling apart.

He was just about to send a Patronus to George to say that they would either be late or would be giving the party a miss when the bathroom door opened. Hermione stood there in the doorway, her cheeks stained with tears and her arms folded across her chest.

"You really don't know why your costume is in poor taste?" She asked slowly after a moment of just watching him.

Fred shook his head slightly as he stood up. As far as he was aware, from his brief research stints, this was a couple's costume. It made sense for him to dress up as the Joker when she was Harley Quinn, at least according to everything that Dennis had been able to tell him about the comics he'd read. Fred wasn't exactly that we'll be versed in muggle comics after all.

"I really don't know." He admitted, his voice a little smaller than he expected it to be but he couldn't help but be confused about how he had messed up.

"The Joker? He's a villain." She said quietly as she moved to sit on the bed. "I mean, so is Harley Quinn, but she wasn't before she met him. He drove her to insanity and controlled her every move. He was abusive and manipulative and to even 'ship' them together is honestly disgusting."

Fred nodded slowly, a knot of guilt forming in his stomach but it hadn't been his intention to upset her and he genuinely hadn't known anything about the relationship that the two fictional characters shared. It wasn't his fault, and yet it felt like it was.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly, as he wondered whether he should take Hermione's hand or not and in the end decided that it was probably a better idea to keep his hands to himself. A couple of fictional characters - and his misunderstanding of them - had been enough to upset her and he wasn't entirely sure how he could make up for a situation that he didn't exactly understand.

He felt Hermione shake her head from where she sat beside him. "It - I know you didn't mean anything by it." She said quietly, though something told him that he wasn't entirely forgiven for this particular indiscretion.

He thought about taking her hand but instead, he decided against it and grabbed his wand. He removed his face paint without so much as another word and as he changed out of the suit he had rented into his pyjamas. He had no idea if they were still going to the party or not, but he had figured that she wasn't really in the mood now. He didn't think that he was either if he was completely honest.

"Gonna make tea, do you want some?" He asked. After a few more moments of silence that he didn't want to extend through the rest of the night, though it seemed as if he didn't have much choice on that matter. 

When Hermione set her mind to something it was pretty impossible to convince her of anything otherwise. He was pretty pleased when she gave a nod as that gave him an excuse to leave the room for a bit. He was all too aware that he had screwed up but she was basically holding it against him at this point.

Fred put the kettle on and before the tea started to steep he sent a Patronus off to George and Harry to let them know that they would just have to see them another day. He didn't like letting his twin down, but whatever was going on with Hermione was clearly deeper than just an outfit. He let out a small sigh as he held his mug tightly in his hands for a few moments, letting himself just breathe for a while.

**

Hermione didn't know why she had such an adverse reaction to Fred's choice of costume but it had rubbed her the wrong way and her want to socialise with her friends and family had all but disappeared. Honestly, she just wanted to curl up in bed with a pint of ice cream and allow herself to continue to feel sorry for herself. She knew that she was being ridiculous but that didn't mean that she could stop it. She wasn't exactly the best at controlling her emotions, though she'd probably be the last to admit that.

She considered taking her own costume off but honestly, that felt like more effort than she could be bothered with so, in the end, she just sat there, her arms wrapped around herself and her eyes on the floor.

She supposed that this could have been part of the PTSD. She had been abused at the hands of someone who hadn't exactly been sane and she was becoming all too aware now that her own choice in costume had potentially triggered something - that this wasn't all down to Fred, she reminded herself again, as she pulled in a deep breath, that this wasn't all his fault.

She couldn't help but flinch when he opened the door to the bedroom. Her mind had been elsewhere; her thoughts had been back at the Malfoy Manor with Bellatrix and she could only focus on the pain in her arm. She knew that the scar was still there, that it had never truly healed over despite all of the magic that they had attempted to throw at it over the last few years, but she also knew that the word no longer hurt her. What she was feeling now was a memory. But memories could be their own special kind of painful when they wanted to be.

She hadn't managed to look at Fred, nor had she managed to actually move from where she sat, but fortunately that didn't seem to matter to him as his arms soon joined hers, wrapping around her ever so tightly and pulling him to her chest. She could feel him press a kiss to the top of her head but it felt as if he were miles away from all the same. She swallowed thickly and just let herself concentrate on the steady rise and fall of his chest.

Eventually, she started to feel as if she was more herself, more Hermione. She hated feeling so vulnerable, but it certainly helped that she knew that she could trust Fred with every fibre of her being. He was probably the one person in the world that she was able to talk about everything with.

The fact that he was removed from the Horcrux hunt itself, and he could listen to the torture and other struggles that she'd had to endure while on the run without necessarily being able to relate to them, made him easier to talk to. He didn't really do sympathy, at least not to the point where it felt like pity, which was another huge plus. Speaking to Ron and Harry about it all wasn't a good idea either. They understood what she had been through all too well and it just felt wrong dragging up the past when they had all been trying so hard to put it all behind them.

Hermione wished that it was as easy as being able to just put it behind her, but no matter what the memory of being pinned to the floor by that  _ witch  _ managed to creep its way back into her brain. This wouldn't have been such a big deal if Hermione didn't prize her brain as her best asset, but at the end of the day that's exactly what it was and it made her feel more than a little nauseous that it was infected with evil.

Fred didn't seem to mind that she had dark thoughts from time to time. He listened to them and like he was now, he would always sit with her until either of them came up with an idea about how exactly to make her feel better.

Today it seemed that it was her turn to figure it out. She pressed a kiss to his cheek before she slowly pulled away from him. "I'm gonna shower." She told him quietly, trying not to feel guilty about the mugs of tea on his bedside table that had been forgotten about.

Fred just pressed a kiss to her hand in return as she slipped out of his grip and headed back towards the en-suite. She didn't lock the door this time, knowing that had upset him when she had done the first time. They didn't lock doors as a rule, not when it was just the two of them. They had the lock there for when they had guests over, not for when she was just having a good cry to herself.

She turned the shower on and let herself listen to the water as she removed the glamour from her hair. She watched herself in the mirror as the red and black faded back to her usual brunette. It had been a good idea, once. She couldn't quite figure out where it had become a bad idea, but she decided that it was probably best not to let herself dwell on that as she stepped into the shower and let the water run over her body.

**

Fred ran his fingers through his hair before he headed through to the kitchen to clear up the mugs and grab himself a slice of bread. He was starving, having decided not to eat earlier because he had known that there would be nibbles at the party, but he couldn't really be bothered cooking anything tonight. Bread was quick and easy and required little to no effort on his part.

His mind was fixed on doing something that would cheer her up, but he didn't really know what. She seemed pretty down and while he could sort of understand now what was going through her head, he didn't know how to help. The closest he had gotten to being on the front line had been when he had helped transport Harry from Privet Drive and the Battle of Hogwarts itself, and while he had almost died during the latter, he didn't really remember much of the fight now looking back.

He wanted to be able to relate so that he could know how to help her, but at the same time, he couldn't help but be glad that he  _ didn't _ know how she felt.

He gave a soft sigh as he dropped onto the sofa and switched the telly on. TV had to be one of his favourite muggle inventions that Hermione had brought into their flat. He enjoyed the kettle and how it boiled water without the need for him to find his wand - which he often misplaced, and that was honestly only a testament to how times had changed. But TV was something that helped him to kick back and relax, somehow it helped him to switch off his brain in a way that couldn't explain.

He could just about hear the shower over the noise of the programme that he had put on, though it was the shower that he found himself concentrating on. He had to wonder if she was okay or if she was using the shower to mask that she was crying again. It wasn't really her thing, but he wasn't going to dismiss anything at this point.

When he heard the shower turn off, he turned the TV off and headed back through to the bedroom, deciding to warm up her fluffiest pyjamas and dressing gown so that she would have something warm and cosy to curl up in. He knew that it was probably too early for bed, but at the same time, the idea of curling up with her under the covers was all too inviting to turn down - that was if she even wanted to curl up with him.

The fact that she stepped straight into his arms, or well into the dressing gown that he wrapped around her, was at east a good sign, he decided as he pressed a soft kiss to her temple.

"Better?" He asked gently as she leaned against him with a soft sigh. She certainly felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders or perhaps just simply washed down the drain.

"Better." She agreed with a small nod, though her words were muffled as she'd turned to hide her head against him. They stood there like that for a while before he gently pulled her onto his lap as he sat down on the bed.

Fred helped her to change - not because he didn't think that she was in any fit state to change herself but because he genuinely just wanted to help her. He loved doing little things to help like helping her change or making sure that they always had a fresh pot of coffee brewing. It made the 'reward' of being able to lie with her safe and sound under the duvet all the more sweet.

**

Hermione blinked open her eyes as she heard the bedroom door click. She threw her hand into the middle of the bed, only to find that she was alone. She sat up abruptly, a frown taking over her face as she looked around for Fred. She didn't know why it unsettled her so much to wake up and not find him there, but even now her heart was racing.

She swung her feet out of bed far too quickly, or at least that was what her head told her as the room started to spin and she caught herself on the bedpost. She didn't want to be this panicky about where her fiancé might be, especially when she had only just heard him leave the bedroom, but she truly couldn't help it.

"Fred?" She called, trying to keep the sound of desperation out of her voice as she made her way out of the bedroom and into the hallway. The sun was well and truly up now which at least meant that she had slept through the night, but the rays were pretty blinding when you weren't expecting them to be there.

She looked for Fred in the kitchen first, pausing only to consider grabbing coffee when she found he wasn't there, but for once her need to check that he was okay was stronger than her need for caffeine. She took a slow, but deep breath before heading further down the hall to the living room.

"What are you doing?" She asked slowly when she was faced with her fiancé standing in the middle of the room wearing what resembled a dress. She had to wonder if she was meant to be worried that he was dressed in such a way, or if she should be more concerned that his skin was green.

"I thought you were sleeping!" He yelped as he turned to face her, his eyes wide with a different sort of panic to the one that she had felt just moments before. Her panic was well and truly forgotten for the day anyway as his appearance wiped the memory of it from her mind.

"I was but… Seriously, Fred. What are you doing?" She asked, a laugh escaping her as she looked him up and down. The dress was a different shade of green to his skin and both made his hair seem to take on a vibrant colour of red.

"I did my research this time and this is how I should have dressed. I should have been Poison Ivy, I know that now so-" He gestured to himself. "- ta da!"

Hermione blinked rapidly as she took this surprise in before she let out a joyous laugh. She couldn't believe that he had done this for her, though she definitely wasn't going to complain about it. He looked utterly ridiculous, of course, but she certainly appreciated the fact that he had gone to all of this trouble for her was something that made her heart soar.

"You really are one of a kind, Fred Weasley." She said as she walked towards him, pressing a kiss to his cheek before she walked around him in a circle so that she could fully check out his attire.

"I wouldn't do this for anyone but you.' Fred said with a grin before he swept her up in her arms and pressed kisses to her forehead and cheeks.

"I love you." She told her, a smile flickering across her lips as she looked up at him. And she didn't think that she could have possibly loved him any more than she did in that moment, but then this wasn't the first time that she had thought that either, and she knew that tomorrow she would love him even more than today, that was just the way of the world.

She leaned up and kissed him deeply, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body close to his - all the while ignoring the fact that his skin was bright green. She had to admit though, his Poison Ivy outfit was a lot more appealing that his Joker costume had been.


End file.
